Fort Standish (1)

Fort Standish (1) (1900-1947) - An Endicott Period Coastal Fort first established in 1900 on Lovell's Island in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Named Fort Standish in G.O. 43, 4 Apr 1900, after Myles Standish, a famous soldier who joined the expedition sailing on the "Mayflower" and gained distinction in the defense of the Plymouth Colony and in the direction of operations against hostile Indians, (1620-1656). Post declared surplus in 1947.

Seven Endicott Period gun batteries were built on Lovell's Island Island between 1899 and 1907 and accepted for service. By 1909 the batteries were completed and quarters built for 4 NCOs. One of those quarters was a caretaker/NCO quarters. In 1909 the post was garrisoned by detachment from Fort Warren (2). The guns for Battery Burbeck and Battery Morris (2) were on hand but not mounted and the guns for Battery Williams were not on hand.

Fort Standish expanded during World War I and a number of temporary buildings were built to house the garrison. The temporary buildings can be still seen on the 1921 plan of the post. By 1938 all of the temporary buildings were gone and only the three permanent habitable quarters remained. There were other permanent buildings, an ordnance storehouse and a regular storehouse but little else besides the gun batteries and fire control stations.

Just before World War II the post expanded again. In 1940 the post capacity was four NCOs and by 30 Jun 1941 the capacity had risen to 14 officers, 4 NCOs and 809 enlisted men. Seven 63 man WWII barracks had been built along with three mess halls and a number of support buildings. Tents provided quarters for 368 of the troops. Most of the new buildings were located at the southern end of the Island.

The beginning of the war found all of the disappearing carriage gun batteries obsolete and they were scrapped in 1942 and 1943 leaving only Battery Whipple and Battery Williams active throughout the war. One new AMTB gun battery was built on the northern tip of the Island. Battery AMTB 943 was completed in 1943 and remained in service through the rest of the war. The AMTB batteries were rapid fire 90mm gun batteries designed as a defense against fast enemy motor torpedo boats and enemy aircraft.